Swabs are typically used to determine the effectiveness of cleaning protocols used for cleaning manufacturing equipment such as the manufacturing equipment used in making pharmaceuticals and other products where it is important to eliminate contaminants during manufacture. Analysis of total organic carbons, or organic contaminants, is an example of one method used to validate cleaning protocols and processes. High performance liquid chromotagraphy (HPLC) and ultraviolet (UV)/visible spectroscopy are other examples of analytic methods used to validate cleaning protocols and procedures. Traditionally, polyester swabs are used for surface sampling and cleaning validation work.
A prior art swab and handle are shown in FIG. 1. Prior art polyester swabs 10 are positioned on a swab handle 12 that comprises a head paddle 14 (for supporting a swab) at the end of a long rigid handle 16. The swab handle 16 includes notches 18 so that the head 14 containing the swab 10 can be easily snapped off or cut off for convenient sample handling. Prior art swabs and handles may be used for cleaning certain areas as well as for determining the effectiveness of cleaning protocols and procedures.
Traditional prior art swabs and handles where the heads are cut or snapped off by the operator to analyze the swab for contaminants introduce the potential for contamination of the samples and the potential for giving a false positive test result. The operators and cutting devices of traditional prior art swabs and handles can carry contaminants and also cause retesting problems when they are in contact with the swab head or the handle close to the swab.
Accordingly, there is a need for a tool that reduces the potential for introducing contaminants when testing samples obtained with swabs.